they are familiar with the words of holy writ, and recollect that the heart of man is "desperately wicked" and call to mind the painful picture delivered by the Apostle Paul of the state to which in his days human nature had been brought, by the influence of an impure religion among men, "who changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and fourfooted beasts and creeping things, for which God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts."

The Maháráj chiefly aimed at it in this article (a high priest who had published writings in a sectarian controversy justifying these immoral doctrines), replied by an action for libel; the defendant pleaded justification, and hence the exposure, and the defeat of the Maháráj's party. For the defendant there were thirtythree witnesses examined, for the plaintiff thirty-four. The former gave positive, the latter negative evidence. The disclosures made by this evidence, as we had said before, we cannot detail—our readers will readily understand its nature when we tell them the result of the trial, that the libel was considered to be justified.

Sir Matthew Sausse (for both judges delivered judgment, as, though they agred in the main points they differed on a minor one that did not materially affect the vital question in the case), considered that "the essential points in the libel, as the record stands, have been sufficiently covered by the proofs adduced in support of the plea, that there must be a verdict for defendant on that issue." Sir J. Arnould said, “On my mind the evidence leaves not a shadow of doubt: the charges made are, in my opinion, fully substantiated."

The reason why we think this trial so important is that it must surely strike forcibly every educated Hindu in the country who reads it. Indeed we cannot but think that it will lay the foundation of a reformation analogous to that in which the great Luther took a lead after the exposures of the practices and morals of the priesthood in the sixteenth century. Accordingly we learn from the Bombay papers that so great has been the revulsion of feeling among their fellow-countrymen in Bombay that the Maharájás have been forced to leave the place.-Delhi Gazette, May 22, 1862.

XVIII.-The Oudh Gazette.

There has just been tried a case at Bombay, which discloses a state of facts so horrible, that it is hard to conceive otherwise than that a numerous, wealthy, and most influential caste of men, who live there are brutes by choice, and bestial from sheer love of bestiality.

The Bhattia caste are second to no class in the world, in the force and constancy of their adherence to all the forms and customs of their religion, and in the exceeding reverence they pay their priests; but, strange to say, the claims which their religion has upon their regard, and the nature of the adoration they render to their spiritual superiors, are so utterly the opposite of reasonable or tolerable that the sect presents the curious problem of an entire race of

men who solemnly ignore right because it is right, and diligently worship evil because it is evil. In the selection of the strange peculiarities which form their creed, they seem to have been actuated by the most perfect system of unreason. Their tenets are impossible of observance without the outrage of every ordinary human passion and feeling. The grossest, foulest, and most degrading of all matters imaginable constitute their ritual; and the vilest brute among them is worshipped for his vileness, as an incarnation of the godhead.

A native newspaper editor exposed this state of things in a temperate remonstrance on behalf of the community against the existence of so foul a blot, protected by law. The Bháttiás met their antagonists boldly enough, but after their own unreasonable fashion. They at once prosecuted their asperser for libel, and called a caste meeting, at which every member pledged himself to belie their own doctrines, and deny their own customs. This conspiracy was, however, discovered, and the police forthwith procured evidence of it, which, in the fearless hands of counsel for the Crown, has resulted in a trial that has convicted and doomed to punishment the criminals.

Now out of these facts arise some very important considerations, chief of which is this, that by this case at Bombay the first direct blow has been struck by the law itself against fanaticism. It is a heavy and most important blow-surely fatal though slow in its effects. The purity of the stern decision which this case affords, namely, that the law will permit the exercise of no power given to a man by a superstition, to the injury, disgrace, or even annoyance of his fellow subject, levels a blow at caste which wealth or creed cannot long withstand. Let but the proceedings of this case be published throughout the land, and the principle of religious liberty and free conscience is established for ever; for, to say the plain truth, the only hold of superstition on men's minds, and the sole support of idolatry here as elsewhere, has rested on pretended powers which this decision renders impossible of pretence any longer. Every man may now rest secure from every let, hindrance, or harm, arising from authority or power not legal and material. The exercise of authority not given by enactment is penal. And from the sweeping force of this declaration, that the use of superstition as the means of coercion is illegal and penal, there is no man, not even if a whole race believe him to be a god, excepted.

Let all reformers rejoice, then, and let the members of the Brumho Sumáj of Lucknow learn, and use the strength of the weapon thus put into their hands by law. May we be pardoned for suggesting that, if it be in the power of this body to confer or offer an honour, the strongest friends of their cause who have yet declared themselves, are the prosecutor in this case, and Sir Joseph Arnould, the judge.-Oudh Gazette, January 1, 1862.

XIX.-The Samáchár Hindustani.

THE MAHÁRÁJ LIBEL CASE.-All things have an end. The sun himself, as Thomas Campbell says, must die, and even the great Maháráj case could not

occupy the Bombay Supreme Court for ever. After dragging its slow length along for an unusual duration, it has come to a stand with the decision of the Bench, and we can now safely moralize upon it.

In Western India there is a large sect of Hindus called Vallabhácháryans, from Vallabh, their founder. The Bania and Bháttiá castes compose the laity of the sect, and the Mahárájás the clergy. Both in doctrines and in practices, Vallabhácháryans appear to us to be worse than the very dregs of the modern Vaishnavas. Had the facts not been proved in a court of justice, the practices of the Vallabhácháryans would have been incredible to our readers. The Vallabhácharya laity allow their priesthood to take, and the latter are not slow to take, liberties with the former's females, which we had thought hardly possible. But we will not anticipate. Mr. Karsandás Mulji, the editor of a Gujarati paper in Bombay, the Satya Prakásh, or the "Light of Truth,” and the defendant in thẹ present action, as a Vallabhácháryan of the Baniá caste, could not but be aware of practices which were too notorious. The progress of intelligence had opened his eyes as those of other young Vallabhácháryans to their enormity. But he and his friends did not content themselves with merely seeing and perceiving—they tried to remove the evil. They promoted the education of girls that these might learn the sin of their parents' ways. They tried to introduce the re-marriage of widows, that these may not have an irresistible temptation to buy-it is literally bought as the reader will see by and bye-at the hands of the Mahárájás satisfaction of their animal desires. They exhorted the Mahárájás personally to mend their conduct. The plaintiff, Jadunathji Maharaj, came to Bombay in 1860, and thought fit to ingratiate himself with the reformatory party by the most liberal assurances. He even went the length of founding a girls' school, and appeared to be earnest in the cause of widow-marriage. Some time after his ardour cooled, and his next appearance in public must have surprised the young reformers. He set on foot a periodical called the "Propagator of our own Religion," for the purpose of, we believe, neutralizing the effect of the attacks upon Vallabhácháryanism so often made by the reformers in the papers. In this periodical he openly invited criticism. The reformers were not backward in responding to the call. Meanwhile the defendant was horrified to discover that the immoral practices of the Mahárájás were sanctioned by the sacred authorities of the Vallabhácháryans. At the same time he was informed on good authority that the plaintiff was as immoral as his class. On the 21st October in 1860 the defendant published an article in the Satya Prakásh, in which he tried to prove that the Vallabhácháryans are a new sect heretical in respect of the ancient Hindu religion, and whose sacred books inculcate the grossest immorality, and roundly charged the Mahárájás as a body, and the plaintiff as one of them, with immoral practices in the name of religion. At this the plaintiff brought the action for libel. In regard to the second plea of the defendant, justification, both the judges agreed in their verdict in his favour. We, along, we are happy to say, with the entire press of Bombay, regret that on the technical plea of "not guilty,"

the Chief Justice prevailed against his Puisne in recording a verdict for the plaintiff for Rs. 5 damages. We regret because, as was to have been expected, the plaintiff's party, as we learn from the Bombay Times, tried to take advantage of it by announcing that he had gained the victory, explaining the nominal nature of the damages by suggesting that the judges took pity upon the defendant's poverty, and that the award was made in reference to his condition. But fortunately the bazaar was too shrewd to swallow such a transparent falsehood, and all classes of the natives have understood the decision properly. Those of the plaintiff's friends who had prepared sweetmeats to distribute as soon as the decision in his favour, upon which they counted as certain, should be given, were too crest-fallen to assume the airs of a fictitious triumph.—Samáchár Hindustani, Lucknow, May 17, 1862.

XX.-The Ceylon Times.

We recently received from Bombay a copy of the proceedings in the libel case tried in the Supreme Court of that city, in which Jadunathji Brizrattanji, Maháráj or high priest of the sects of Bhattias, Banians, Brahmins, was the plaintiff, and the proprietor and publisher of a Gujarati newspaper at Bombay called the Satya Prakash were the defendants. The libel complained of was to the effect that the Mahárájás of these sects inculcated doctrines opposed to the Shastras of the Hindus, and that this Jadunáthji in particular was, under the cloak of religion, guilty of the grossest immoralities with the females of his sect.

In the plea of justification as filed by the defendants, it is declared that the leaders of the said sect assert that they are the incarnations of the gods Brahma and Krishna, and are themselves gods, and are and ought to be worshipped, implicity obeyed, and served as gods by the members of the said sect, with all the minds, bodies, and properties of such sectaries, and that the neglect of any such to perform the said worship, implicit obedience and service, is a sin of the gravest character, and that it is the duty of the female members in particular of the sect to love the said leaders with unhallowed love, and to perform worship in implicit obedience and service with their bodies whensoever called upon or required by any of the said leaders so to do; albeit such female members are, or may be, unmarried maidens, or wives of other men, and in no wise married or betrothed in marriage to the said leaders. The plea goes on to allege that adultery and fornication are by the religious books of the sect encouraged and commended, and that the surest way of procuring eternal happiness is by acquiescence in such practices. Horribly disgusting as these statements may sound in our ears, they are mild enough compared with the awful disclosures made in open court and reported in the volume before us.

We have no desire to do more than record our utter detestation of such practices as those which, under the pretence of religion of any kind, appear to have prevailed in and about Bombay. With such a code of religious morality, the

natives of India must remain debased to the level of the brutes. Until they be utterly purged of these iniquities they must not talk about equal rights and social advancement. We are, however, glad to find that there is a small band of reformers at work amongst them; and we tender our cordial acknowledgments to the Editor who, having braved the hostility of his countrymen, has boldly proclaimed the truth at all hazards.—Ceylon Times, June 24, 1862.

XXI.-People's Friend.

The libel case brought forward in the Supreme Court of Bombay by Maháráj Brizrattanji, one of the gurus of the Vallabháchárya sect, against the editor of the Satya Prakash newspaper, has at last been decided in favour of the defendant with costs. The case pended in the above Court for several months and excited great interest among the native community. Its particulars are these:- The defendant, who seems to be a member of the Soodhar Lele or reforming party of the natives, and edits the Satya Prákash, a Gujaráti newspaper, disclosed in one of his articles the indecent and immoral practices of the Vallabhácháryan gurus, and accused the plaintiff (one of those gurus) of adulterous conduct towards his female disciples. The plaintiff instituted this law suit against him, and the defendant pleaded that what he had stated in the article was correct. Many rich and influential bankers and merchants gave their evidence in favour of one side or the other, and the Judges came to the conclusion that the abuses brought to light were such as deserved a public denouncement. On the technical plea of not guilty they awarded Rs. 5 as damages to the plaintiff, but acquitted the defendant of the higher charge of defamation and libel, and awarded to him costs of the defence. The plaintiff is said to be intending to appeal to the Privy Council. We trust that on reading this case, the Vám-márgis, who notoriously surpass the Vallabhácháryan priests in their immoralities, will feel ashamed of themselves, and mind their religion's charter, and that many more Hindu reformers will be encouraged to denounce publicly the defects which they may observe in the manners, customs, and rites of their countrymen.-People's Friend, Etawah, May 23, 1862.